Robotech: Guardian Angel
by WhiteBlazingPhoenix
Summary: The story of a young Veritech pilot in Angel Squadron on the SDF1, as he fights through the war between mankind and the Zentraedi, and deals with his own human problems. Please R&R, haven't done this for a while!


_Heh, it's been a while since I was last here! - Thought it was about time I wrote another fanfic, it's been over 2 years since I last posted one here! I'm a big fan of the anime series Robotech, and figured I'd give this a shot! Hope you enjoy, I'm a bit rusty at this so any comments would be very much appreciated!_

_Without further ado, the story!_

**ROBOTECH: GUARDIAN ANGEL**

**Chapter 1: BAPTISM OF FIRE**

"Enemy battle pods coming in on our three o'clock!"

"Sonic Squadron, move to sector 04 and engage incoming attack group!"

"I'm all out of Reflex missiles! I need a little help up here!"

"Hey rookie, you're dropping out of formation!"

The last comm message pulled the pilot out of his momentary daze. All those messages coming in at once had really hit reality home to him.

His mind whirled. He was in space, sitting in the cockpit of a Veritech Valkyrie fighter, in the middle of a battle. A real battle. A battle that could see him get killed.

"Rookie, you OK in there? We have incoming, stay sharp!"

The rough voice of his wing commander jolted him back into action. There were over a dozen hostiles incoming, according to his scanners. Swallowing back his fear, he reached out to his mind, hoping he'd remembered all the stuff that he'd learned in training. His white gloved index finger was already upon the joystick's trigger, ready to let loose a hailstorm of gunpod fire or launch a volley of Reflex missiles.

Seconds later, the enemy group opened fire. Their first volley ripped through one Veritech just off the rookie's wing. Sweat dripped down the young pilot's face as he realised that that guy wouldn't be flying home………and in a few seconds, he might be joining him.

His eyes locked onto the scanners, and he saw that one battle pod was coming directly at him.

"Yaaahhh!!!!!!!" The rookie panicked, and he pressed the trigger hard.

A stream of gunfire blasted from the gunpod underneath the Veritech, streaking across space at lightning speed. It tore through the incoming battle pod, blowing it into space dust.

Seconds after that, the Veritech squadron and the battle pod unit passed by each other, breaking off and swinging around to engage each other in a dogfight.

The pilot's blue eyes were wide open in both awe and fear as he witnessed the battle around him. Veritech and battle pod alike whizzed around, each taking shots at each other. Explosions rang out and rocked his own fighter, accompanied with endless radio chatter through his ears.

Suddenly, an alarm blared at the green rookie from his scanners. A battle pod was right behind him! "Crud!" he yelled out loud.

Quickly, he banked the Veritech hard left, just as two bright blue laser beams shot out from the battle pod. They missed him by inches, thanks to his quick manoeuvre. Unfortunately, the pod was still very much on his tail, and sooner or later its shots would find their mark.

"Alright………come on………I can do this!" he thought, rallying himself in his mind.

He swung hard right, dodging yet another attack from his pursuer, but found himself heading right for another battling Veritech and battle pod.  
"Aaahhhh!!!!!!!" his mind screamed, and he dived quickly to avoid crashing into either craft. Once the danger had passed, he pulled into a steep climb.

Rather disconcerting news to the young pilot was that his opponent had done exactly the same. Cursing his luck, he pulled down hard, hoping to confuse the enemy and get behind him.

The battle pod followed him, firing off a flurry of laser blasts. It was a miracle that not a single one even grazed the Veritech.

"It's not working!!!!" exclaimed the now panicked pilot, completely unable to shake his foe. In moments, he would be nothing but a pile of space debris….

Unless………

In a risky move, the pilot suddenly cut the Veritech's speed dramatically, almost bringing it a complete stop. The battle pod, caught unaware by this action, flew right past him. The rookie's plan had worked, and his display showed that he'd locked on to the hunter, now turned hunted.

"Try this for size, giant breath!" he yelled.

Depressing the second red button on the flight stick, the Veritech launched a couple of Reflex missiles towards the now helpless battle pod. Leaving distinct white vortice trails as they sped onwards, the missiles blasted the pod into a few hundred fragments of metal.

The victorious pilot breathed a HUGE sigh of relief and throttled his engines back to full once again. He didn't want to do that again in a hurry………but the battle wasn't over yet. That had just been one of the many Zentraedi ships attacking them.

He caught the flash of a nearby explosion and saw that another battle pod had bitten the dust. Flying past it was a white Veritech, emblazoned with blue tail fins and the emblem of a beautiful woman with white wings on her back………an angel. The unique appearance of Angel One, his squadron leader's Veritech, was unmistakable

"All craft," came a voice suddenly over the radio. It was the grizzled tones of the man who piloted that same white Veritech. "This sector is clear, and the Zentraedi are retreating from all other sectors. Looks like the day is ours again, people. Get yourselves back to the SDF-1, pronto."

"Roger that, sir!" was the response of Angel 11, a good friend of the rookie. The other members of the squadron chimed in, but one or two were noticeably missing. The young pilot's heart sank at that knowledge, but at the same time he was relieved that he had lived to fight another day.

"The other pilots………they do this every day, staring death in the face. How do they do it? I don't even know how I kept it together today………"

"Hey, dude." The voice of another good friend, Angel 13, broke the sorrowful pilot from his thoughts. "Got yourself in a real tangle back there, huh? Heh heh, welcome to the joys of deep space travel!"

"Speak for yourself, Emilio!" retorted the rookie, shaking his head and noticing his buddy now flying alongside his wing. He looked out and saw the cheeky face of his friend staring back. "It was your first sortie as well, you know. It sure wasn't like I expected……"

"War never is." Angel 11 was the one who joined in the conversation. "I'll see you guys back on the SDF-1."

"That's if you get there first!" taunted Emilio, boosting off towards the great ship in front of them. Angel 11 followed suit, but the rookie, Angel 12, did not join them their reckless little race. He was too busy mulling over what had just transpired, and staring at the massive vessel in front of him.

The Super Dimensional Fortress 1 'Macross', or the SDF-1 for short, never ceased to amaze the young man. One could only wonder at what kind of technology had gone into creating the battlefortress, and even now the best scientists on board only had a basic understanding of its functionality. The ship had suffered its far share of problems from the get go, but nevertheless, it was a testament to the spirit of humanity.

He'd been there on the fateful day of the SDF-1's launch, the day that the alien race known as the Zentraedi came to earth to reclaim their lost ship. He remembered the roar of the massive Reflex cannon as it was fired for the first time, the massive aerial battle in the skies, and the utter chaos that ensued when the SDF-1 attempted to space fold to the Moon, but took Macross City with it and lost its fold engines in the process. Worse, they'd ended up on the far side of the Solar System instead of the Moon, and the entire population of the ship faced a long voyage to return to Earth.  
Then there was that business with the 'modular transformation', necessary because without the fold engines, the main gun could not be fired again. It was unlucky that it had destroyed much of the rebuilt city in the process, but at least things had been mostly rectified now.

Despite being away from Earth, the rookie didn't really miss it. Macross City had always been his home, and now it was one that he'd vowed to protect. It might have been a city in space aboard a great big spaceship, but it was still home.

Thinking of both the ship and the city distracted him from the negative emotions he was feeling. Now that he'd survived his first battle, he was supposed to feel good, triumphant. Instead, he felt only sorrow for those who he knew hadn't made it back.

"Angel 12, you are cleared to land." The voice of a flight controller snapped him from his thoughts.

"Roger that." He replied, though a little sadly, and brought the Veritech gently in to land on the carrier Prometheus, one of the SDF-1's 'arms'. The dark blue surface of the carrier grew closer and closer, and finally there was a sound of screeching tires as his craft landed firmly on the deck.

Moments later, the pilot and his Veritech were lowered into the cavernous launch bay, and he was able to get out of the cockpit and remove his blue and yellow coloured helmet. It was good to get out of the thing. It felt like he'd been wearing it for weeks.

Looking around the bay, he didn't get much time to take in how many pilots had returned from battle before he saw two familiar people coming towards him. It was his friends from the squadron, Angels 11 and 13. To him, they were better known as Randall Hicks and Emilio Dodgson.

"Heh heh, there he is!" Emilio grabbed his friend and ruffled his hair. "You slowcoach, you took a little while to land! What were you doing, dreaming of all the cuties in our squadron? Heh heh!"

"Knock it off, Emilio!" The rookie pushed his friend and wingman away roughly. He wasn't in the mood for his mucking around right now.

"Sheesh…..chill out, dude. We just had our first real battle! What a rush!!!" Emilio seemed to have enjoyed the experience, maybe a little too much.

"Emilio………you do know that two of ours didn't make it back, right?" Randall, ever the voice of reason, added a sobering thought in order to shut his often insensitive buddy up.

"I know, man………and it sucks………but come on, we made 'em run away! I think those guys who got wasted would be damned happy about that!" Emilio gestured with his arms, trying to lift his friend's spirits.

"That's just it, Emilio." was the reply of the downcast pilot. "They're not here to BE happy about it………" He began to walk away without a word, unable to deal with his emotions AND Emilio at the same time.

"Hey……come back! We need to go celebrate! Dude!!!!" called Emilio, but in vain. Randall shook his head, worried for his buddy.

"Today wasn't a day I want to remember. It was scary out there. It was scary for you too, and for him. You know how Chester can get, we should just leave him be for now."

The two friends watched, as Chester Anderson, Angel 12 of Angel Squadron, silently left to be alone. All the disillusioned pilot could think was………

"Why did they have to die today?"


End file.
